


His Scars and Hers

by DarkPhoenixGoddess10



Series: Richard and Anne: One-shots [16]
Category: The White Queen (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-01
Updated: 2014-09-01
Packaged: 2018-02-15 15:31:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2234172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkPhoenixGoddess10/pseuds/DarkPhoenixGoddess10
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After having her baby, Anne discovered the marks on her body and feared Richard would not love her anymore. However, Richard proved her wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	His Scars and Hers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ChelleLeigh1917](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChelleLeigh1917/gifts).



Her confinement was finally over, which meant liberation and freedom for her.

Sitting in the bath tub, Anne looked down at her body. Eight months of pregnancy and a difficult delivery had truly changed her. Before having her baby, Anne was svelte and petite. Her belly didn’t show until her third trimester. The pregnancy brought her and Richard endless joy. Richard, although already fathered two children prior to their marriage, was looking forward to having a legitimate heir. Anne could not wait to have a baby of her own. After all, watching the Woodville Queen and her sister Isabel married and fallen with child, she had anticipated and waited for this moment for too long.

Her son Ned arrived much sooner than she had expected; her confinement hadn’t even begun yet.

The delivery was very difficult. The feet came out first; and her small waist didn’t alleviate the situation.  She suffered from heavy bleeding after the birth to the point that midwives and physicians feared that she’d die. But thankfully she didn’t.

After spending months in bed recovering, Anne was finally allowed to leave bed.

She could not wait for the moment to be in Richard’s arms again.

And yet, looking at her body, suddenly she felt insecure.

What were those ugly marks on her belly? They weren’t there before she had Ned.

Studying these marks, she found them disgusting and even scary. How would Richard ever find her attractive again?

Panicking, Anne tried to wash away these marks but her efforts were fruitless. She continued to wash these marks when her nanny and maids came to dry her. She stood as her maids placed her robe on her.

“Wait!” She stopped them before heading back to her bedchamber. Opening her robe, she whispered, “What is this?”

Her nanny’s eyes widened but the laughed. “It’s normal, my lady, after giving birth.”

“Will it disappear?”

“In time.”

“How long?” Anne pressed.

“Months,” her nanny told her.

Months? Anne wrapped her robe tightly around her body as if a devil’s mark was on her body.

***

Instead of being in her shift, Anne put on her nightgown—long sleeves and more cover ups. She climbed into the bed and “hid” under the covers. She could not be more nervous after hearing Richard’s footsteps.

When he entered her bedchamber, or “their” bedchamber, Anne pulled her cover all the way up to her chin.

She waited anxiously as Richard pulled back the curtain and joined her in bed.

“I missed you my sweet,” he said softly as he embraced her.

Anne’s response was rather reluctant, and Richard noticed instantly.

“What is it Anne?” He asked, expressing his concern.

“Nothing,” Anne muttered, trying to act as if nothing was bothering her.

“Tell me,” he pressed.

“Why…why do you think there’s something?” She asked while looking away.

“Because I know you,” he replied. Playing with the fabric of her nightgown, he said, “You are not used to be so overdressed in bed. Now, if I remember correctly, on our wedding night, you waited for me completely _au natural_.”

Biting her lips, Anne slowly pulled up her nightgown to show Richard her stretch marks. “I…I’m no longer pretty.” With that said, she buried her head in the pillow and sobbed.

“Anne,” Richard tried to comfort her but Anne refused to look at him.

“My body is ugly now…and soon you’ll be displeased with me,” she wept. “You’ll surround yourself with beautiful mistresses…You won’t love me anymore.”

“Anne, you know that is not true,” Richard said.

“How would you know?”

He paused and then said, “Why don’t we remove this and I’ll explain it to you?”

Sniffling, Anne reluctantly sat up as Richard pulled her nightgown over her head.

“Lie down,” he instructed.

Anne did what she was told, even though she tried to cover her stretch marks on her belly with her hands. Richard pulled her hands away and brushed her long hair off her body, leaving her perfectly exposed. He then removed his nightshirt, revealing the scars on his torso.

Those scars he got from years in the battlefield.

“You have your scars and I have mine,” he muttered as his fingers traced her stretch marks. He took her hand and guided her to touch his back. “Remember our wedding night? I showed you my secret…and you told me that you love me and find me perfect?”

Despite growing up with Richard in the same household, Anne never learned the secret behind his back troubles. Initially she thought it was resulted from falling from a horse during his trainings. Only on their wedding night she saw his bare back and learned his deformity.  

“You are always the most beautiful woman to me,” he insisted. “I would never discard you for anyone else.”

Hearing that, Anne was so touched that tears fell from her eyes. Wrapping her arms around him and stroking his bareback, she whispered, “I missed you.” She leaned up to kiss him on the lips. He kissed her back as his hands stroked every inch of her body.

She closed her eyes as Richard replaced his hands with his lips.

Only she stopped him before he could touch her bare breasts.

Before she used to be aroused when he touched her there; but during and after pregnancy her breasts became sensitive and she need nurse her son.

His lips skipped over her breasts and kissed her marks on the belly.

Anne curved her back and moaned as he thrust into her.

It had been too long since they made love.

***

After a long, passionate love-making, Anne spooned with Richard.

“You are going to nurse our son?” Richard whispered against her hair.

She nodded. “I know it’s against the protocols, but he’s so small. My milk will help him grow.”

Richard said nothing more. He brushed his lips against her forehead and wrapped the cover around her.

“You think we’re going to give him a sibling soon?”

“I’m sure, but it’s God’s will.”

“If…it’s another boy, I’d like to name him Richard.”

“After his grandfathers?” He meant Richard Duke of York and Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick.

“And after his father, whom I adore dearly.”

“If we have a girl,” he muttered. “I would name her Anne, after her mother.”

“Why?” She thought he’d name their first daughter Cecily, after Duchess of York.

“Because her mother is a wonderful, brave woman,” he said as he touched her stretch marks.

Childbirth was women’s battlefield. He had his scars; and she has hers. Those scars were the evidence of their bravery and the sacrifices they made to be where they were now.

Together, happy, and a family.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments please! This is my work for Pervy Sunday. Thanks Chelle for the prompt!


End file.
